salmon dishes

Slow-Roasted Side of Salmon excerpted from For the Table: Easy, Adaptable, Crowd-Pleasing Recipes by Anna Stockwell. Photography by Chelsea Kyle.

For the Table: Easy, Adaptable, Crowd-Pleasing Recipes by Anna Stockwell

Hosting a dinner party is a special kind of occasion. You welcome old and new friends into your home and gather around the table. You put out platters of food prepared just for that table of people, passing them around until everyone’s had their fill. This sense of sharing and togetherness feeds more than just bellies. It is what helps us stay connected, form new relationships, and build lasting bonds with our chosen families. During socially distanced times, the perfect dinner party might have felt like a lost art, but in For the Table, up-and-coming food writer Anna Stockwell provides all the tools needed for bringing back the ritual of hosting memorable yet modern dinner parties.

Stockwell has written a cookbook for a new way of entertaining that’s simpler, better, healthier, and more fun. Organized by season and full of helpful hosting advice, Stockwell provides accessible and modern menus; each is built around two large platters to pass around the table and includes suggestions for no-recipe side dishes. Dinner parties don’t have to be formal or fussy, or even a lot of work, to be celebratory and gratifying. This book teaches you how to plan and prepare great-tasting and impressive-looking menus that are easy to pull off, as well as offers expert advice on toasts, prep-ahead strategies, and tips on handling guest lists and dietary restrictions. With its mix of innovative food presentation and old-fashioned, homestyle technique, For the Table is a testament to the art of the dinner party and looks forward to the festive dinner gatherings of the future. (more…)

Pan-seared Salmon with Cilantro-mint Chutney, Photography by America’s Test Kitchen

Spices: You probably have a cabinet full of them, but do you know how to make the most of them? Spiced opens up the world of possibility hidden in your own pantry, with six chapters, each of which shares a way to use spices to amp up the flavour of your cooking, along with foolproof recipes that put these simple techniques to work.

Sprinkle a finishing salt you make from sea salt and herbs on seared white fish fillets to make them special. Make a different roast chicken every week by applying a different rub. Learn the best spices to use in curries–and when to add them for fragrant (not dusty) results.

Add flavour—and texture—with homemade blends (you’ll eat your spinach when it’s topped with pistachio dukkah). Infuse condiments with spices (try chipotle ketchup on a burger). With the following six simple techniques, plus vibrant recipes, you’ll find yourself not only spooning chilli powder into the chilli pot but making the chilli powder yourself, or flavouring desserts with saffron or cardamom rather than just cinnamon.

Season smarter with salt and pepper. You’ll learn about brining, using peppercorns of all colours, and making finishers like sriracha salt.
Give meat and vegetables a rub. We’ll provide blends that you can put to use in our recipes (try juniper and fennel on salmon) or your own.
Bloom and toast. Bring out ground spices’ complexity by cooking them in oil; unlock dried chiles’ fruity or nutty flavours by toasting them.
Finish foods with flair. Spice-and-nut/seed blends likes shichimi togarashi (a mix of spices, orange zest, and sesame seeds) add texture, too.
Let spices steep. Infuse spices into condiments like pickled fennel that punches up chicken salad or rosemary oil to drizzle over bruschetta.
Bake with spices. Go beyond vanilla by rolling doughnuts in strawberry-black pepper sugar. Make your own rose water and add it to pistachio baklava.

Spiced: Unlock the Power of Spices to Transform Your Cooking, America's Test Kitchen